Doomsday

Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

Details

Users say
(27)

2 out of 5 stars

Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

The Mohawk-sporting villain of Neil Marshall’s futuristic action movie drives a Frankenstein car cobbled together from spare parts, decorated with human skulls and flayed skin. Marshall, likewise, lashes together elements from ’80s post-apocalyptic movies such as ‘Mad Max’ and ‘Escape from New York’ to create a supercharged monster of a movie. Parts cannibalised from other movies are bolted on with less success, but Marshall’s adrenalin-fuelled skill and enthusiasm propel the action forward with reckless abandon.

Twenty-five years after the Reaper virus prompted the quarantining of Scotland behind a modern-day Hadrian’s Wall, the disease resurfaces in London. The only hope for an antidote lies with a group of survivors found north of the border. At the behest of the government and her fatherly mentor, Department of Domestic Security chief Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins), Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) and her crack team of soldiers are dispatched to bring back the cure.

Behind the wall, they find Glasgow presided over by post-punk impresario Sol (Craig Conway) and his tattooed tribe of Marauders; but after escaping through a hillside tunnel, they emerge into a medieval world ruled over by castle-dwelling tyrant king Kane (Malcolm McDowell). With Rhona Mitra’s cold-blooded heroine front and centre, the tense group dynamics and ensemble acting that served Marshall so well in ‘Dog Soldiers’ and ‘The Descent’ are less evident.

This was a good apocalyptic movie, with good acting throughout by the principal characters. The overall film was let down by the choice of escape car the Major chose. That type of Bentley can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds, with a top speed of 180mph. The entire care chase descended into unintentional comedy because of cars only capable of a top speed of 80mph were seen to virtually overtake her. This spoilt the previous level the film had reached. Apart from that, which spoiled my enjoyment, it was an entertaining movie.

Don't listen to these stuck-up motherfucking losers who are thrashing this movie - it ROCKS! Yes, it's derivative of a bunch of other post-AP movies, yes, it doesn't have much of a plot, but it doesn't matter. Why? Because it's so much goddamn fun to watch! The action's real and brutal, there's enough blood spilled and people butchered, shot, gutted, dismembered and burned alive (literally) to put any horror flick I've seen recenty to shame! A fucked-up gorehound that I am, this was just what I needed! Not to mention watching Sinclair strut around in that so fucking sexy outfit... while racking up a bodycount to rival Rambo! And the more meat she wasted, the tighter my pants got! Heh, maybe a little one-on-one session with her after a bloody smackdown fight? Love a girl who can dish out that much pain! And I LOVE pain... just a private fantasy... Anyway, to put it plainly - Rhona, you RULE! Which is not to say the rest of the cast are slouches - Conway is great as a fucked-up screaming psycho cannibal punk-boss, and it's always great to see McDowell and Hoskins in any movie.
Bottom line - get this movie, people, and get ready to bathe in a fucking river of blood and guts, while jerking off to the hottest ass-kicking piece of work to exist today!
5/5

Don't listen to these stuck-up motherfucking losers who are thrashing this movie - it ROCKS! Yes, it's derivative of a bunch of other post-AP movies, yes, it doesn't have much of a plot, but it doesn't matter. Why? Because it's so much goddamn fun to watch! The action's real and brutal, there's enough blood spilled and people butchered, shot, gutted, dismembered and burned alive (literally) to put any horror flick I've seen recenty to shame! A fucked-up gorehound that I am, this was just what I needed! Not to mention watching Sinclair strut around in that so fucking sexy outfit... while racking up a bodycount to rival Rambo! And the more meat she wasted, the tighter my pants got! Heh, maybe a little one-on-one session with her after a bloody smackdown fight? Love a girl who can dish out that much pain! And I LOVE pain... just a private fantasy... Anyway, to put it plainly - Rhona, you RULE! Which is not to say the rest of the cast are slouches - Conway is great as a fucked-up screaming psycho cannibal punk-boss, and it's always great to see McDowell and Hoskins in any movie.
Bottom line - get this movie, people, and get ready to bathe in a fucking river of blood and guts, while jerking off to the hottest ass-kicking piece of work to exist today!
5/5

The girl beating a medieval knight unarmed blew it for me- talk about girl power!!
And the zillions of cows but everyone`s a cannibal also blew it.
But it was entertaining if you dropped your barin in the bin for the duration.

In terms of entertainment this film is pretty good, the story is watchable and the acting isnt too shabby. The main problem is the director seems to rush important parts of the story such as the start, not really showing how and why the virus took hold, that aside the film starts off really well, in an "escape to new york style". Most will mark the film down for 'copying' other films but to be fair, you cant really make a post apocalyptic film without using similar things to other films from the genre
after this point the films starts to chop and change at a stupid rate, it turns a serious and moody action thriller into an almost slapstick comedy towards the end. Its a shame because the film explores some good ideas and does some great things with the miniscule budget, its just a shame that the director was poor

I'm a bit late but felt a duty to warn people off this movie. Starts of interestingly, but then veers off into a series of shameless rip offs of action movies of the past 2 decades. If the director could have got away with it, he would have transported the action to the South Pole (The Thing) and then to South America for Predator, or possibly Apocalypto, and then back to Aliens and Excalibur. This is what I'd expect if you gave $100m to a teenage video junkie and let him rip off all his favourite action movies and call it a 'film'. Can't imagine what Hoskins and McDowell were doing in this junk, they should give their fee to charity.

I thought this film was great entertainment, though not in the way the director intended. I was bent double laughing at how awful it was. i recommend it to friends just for the comedy experience. Plan 9 from Outer Space for the 21st century!

If you can ignore the obvious plot holes, you can enjoy this film. i.e. Why did it take them 23 years to realise there were survivors? Why only send 6 solders into a hostile Scotland, wouldnt the whole army have been a better idea? Why does a Bentley get it's ass handed to it by a 2-stroke motor-x bike? etc. But seriously, if you can see through all that, it's an alright film.

Just awful. The first 10 minutes seemed promising, but thereafter it was one big mess. Terrible script and a rip-off of 'Aliens' when they arive in Scotland. Watched 40 minutes then turned it off. Crud. Total crud.

I usually love these sorts of films, end of the world and all. But this has to be the worst I have ever soon. At the start it showed promise then it fell too pieces. It would seem that fashion and technology stopped moving forward in 30 years. Come on, if you do a movie in the future at least make it look plausible! Disgraceful and a complete waste of Â£14.99!

unbelievable load of toss so much so that i felt compelled to waste even more time writting this review its as if He wanted to prove that its not only the americans who can sew together lots of cliches forget about the plot and film a bunch of cars exploding when they hit a person yes it happens but by that point it seems credible dog soldiers was awesome but this wasnt even van damme funny or mad max curiosuly watchable it was just shit the only entertainment was pointing out the gaping holes in the plausability im even more gutted that im compelled to even give it 1 star

Worst film iv ever seen. I put up with the mad max/robin hood rubbish but when they pulled out that bently (which cudnt outrun a 4x4 made of scrap for sum reason) it was the end for me. Thot it would be an urban version of dog soldiers, cudnt have been more wrong.

I was very disappointed with Neil Marshall's latest offering after the brilliant 'Dog Soldiers' and 'Descent'. The latest offering sees him quarantine Scotland (Why couldn't it have been Wales?) until England needs a cure.
The story starts with the right idea and some amazing effects, but then ends up after the first 30 mins as though the Director had got ahold of a script that was being made up as he went along. I was just beginning to think it was a second rate version of Mad Max, when suddenly; CASTLE? Malcolm McDowell? We were in a second rate version of Braveheart. Suddenly, a cave, were we in the second rate version of Lord of the Rings? Then ... the heroine was driving some mega car that was boxed up in the cave. Second Rate Tomb Raiser. Then suddenly we were back to the Second Rate Mad max apoocalyptic scene.
It's sad to see that some directors rush out, usually a terrible third or fourth film. We had it with Nick Love on 'Outlaw'. Now Neil Marshall has joined the club. And Bod Hoskins was the common denominator. He could do a lot better than these second rate pieces of junk.

My mate quite rightly asked the question why eat each other with thousands of sheep roaming about. This sums up how poor this film is. A black cab keeping up with a Bently GT and blatent rip offs of every post apocalyptic movie ever made should be enough to warn you off this film. I have to agree with Robert Martin as I would have left half way through but was tricked into believing it would get better. Dog soldiers and the Descent are two great films so back to the drawing board for the next effort from Neil Marshall.

The Worst movie i have ever seen, which is a real pity because i love Neil Marshall's other movies and britsih horror cinema in general, but this is just offensively bad in every possible way. it started average and got steadily worse until i was forcing myself to remain i nthe cinema.
/FAIL

the time out review is spot on ,it is a tongue-in -cheek homage to MAD MAX and ESCAPE FROM NEWYORK,if you love the 80s musical soundtracks and hard metal rock ,this is a delightful travesty ,the medieval scottish castle fight is almost a fetish in itself with ironman battling a frail woman ,a great end too .
this was as good as iron man though made on a fraction of the budget ,the director has shown a surreal image of a doomed furturistic glasgow and the car chases were fun in themselves .this was definitely worth a watch ,with expressionist punk cinema and its solid rock score ,the grotesque becomes gorgeous and the horror becomes humor ,just observe the chase at queens street train station in glasgow -it is brilliantly edited and scored .
the dialogues are over the top but appropriate ,this is the best british effort since bank job and it rocks like its rock score and that immortal line used to devastating affect -do you want to eat a chunk of your friend -absolutely smashing -the director of descent has matured into a fine film-maker and i will be waiting for her future projects impatiently and with great expectations .

i agree with the other review, for a science fiction moive it was ridicules, the car chase at the end its stupid. the gangs of people from both cities just appear in places for no reason other than a lazy script. and they keep saying though out the film about noone being alive and there been no contact with the outside world, however the main character uses a mobile phone to get in contact with someone in london. which goes against the hole story...basically don't see this film save your money....

starts off with a promising story with room to develope into something special but as every scene enfolds you cringe, roll your eyes and wonder at what the point is! although it is a science fiction movie it is SO unrealistic, in a lot of areas, one being a car chase with a bentley continental gt being kept up with by trikes, motorcross bikes and ramshackle banger racing type cars! the bentley nearly goes 200 miles an hour for gods sake! pointless plot, badly done